1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to data networking and communication circuits.
2. Description of the Background Art
Forward error correction (FEC) may be used to correct errors in data transmission over a communication channel. For example, in one implementation of an FEC code as specified in the IEEE 802.3 Clause 74 standard, a transmitter may encode an FEC frame having a total of 2112 bits. Of the 2112 bits, there are 2080 message bits and 32 parity check bits. The frame may be encoded (scrambled) by applying an exclusive-or with a predefined 2112-bit pseudo-random number (PN2112) sequence. Subsequently, at the decoder, the frame may be decoded (descrambled) by applying an exclusive-or with the same predefined PN2112 sequence.
However, before a decoder may start decoding the frame, the decoder needs to find the frame boundary. Searching for the frame boundary in a rapid and resource-efficient manner is a challenging task.